Coup

Overview

A world of intrigue awaits you in Coup, a 2-6 player game filled with lies, deceit, doublespeak, and everything in between as you try to be the last one standing.

In Coup, you are given two cards who represent your agents that you have out in the field. These agents can do various tasks on your behalf. They can bring you extra revenue, they can prevent other players’ political machinations against you, they can even allow you to assassinate a rival if that’s what you need them to do.

But best of all, they can pretend to be more than what they are. That is, they can pretend to be someone they’r not. You don’t have a tax-collecting Duke in your hand? Who cares. Pretend to be one anyway. No one’s calling you out on it…

Or so you hope. A game of such intrigue and deception breeds a sense of desperation. You’ll need all the wits you can muster to win a game of Coup. Bluff at the right time and you can secure your victory. But get caught in the act and all you’ve built up will be lost as your agents are sent to the execution chamber.

Core Mechanics: Bluffing, social deduction.

Victory Condition: Winning at Coup basically means being the last person standing at the end of the game. Each person is dealt two cards and once those two cards have been revealed, you’re out of the game. Cards can be revealed of players choose to assassinate or launch a coup against you. But the most thrilling way to reveal cards is to call someone out for lying and playing a role they don’t actually have. Once the contested card is revealed, the person who is in the wrong must turn over their own card and will be in a much worse position for doing so.

Ease of learning: Very very easy to learn. I’ve taught it to people within the span of 5 minutes by telling them that this game is pretty much like the card game BS, except you try to murder people. Probably the most difficult concept to explain is what happens when you kill someone with the assassin but are lying about it. Once you get past that hurdle, things should go smoothly and should make for at least 30-60 minutes of fun if people play multiple rounds.